Exploring the Factors Affecting Bitter Melon Peptide Intake Behavior: A Health Belief Model Perspective

PURPOSE: Diabetes mellitus (DM) patients need to control their blood sugar level in order to achieve a good quality of life. This study was conducted using the health belief model (HBM), to explore the factors behind the bitter melon peptide (BMP) intake behavior and the role of self-efficacy in the model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The subjects were type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Taiwan. A structured questionnaire was adopted from the theory of health belief model and modified specifically for this study as an instrument to survey 292 DM patients, of whom 51.03% were female, 75.68% were married, and 49.32% were aged 40 to 64 years old. The data were analyzed using t-tests, one-way ANOVA and regression. RESULTS: Perceived susceptibility was the most sensitive in the response to the various demographic factors, whereas perceived barrier was the least sensitive. The HBM explained 38.0% of BMP intake behavior. Perceived benefits (β= 0.357) and perceived susceptibility (β= 0.348) were the major predictors. Self-efficacy mediated the relationship between perceived benefits and BMP intake behavior, as well as increased the variance explained to 51.30%. CONCLUSION: The perceived benefits of taking BMP and perceived susceptibility to DM complications were the two major drivers acting on BMP intake behavior. The power of perceived benefits was mediated by self-efficacy in driving DM patients to take BMP regularly. Several ways of affecting perceived susceptibility and perceived benefits were suggested.